Carnival operates the Ecstasy out of Galveston’s port, and the Miami-based line will be operating its Magic and Triumph cruise ships from the island as well.

Carnival operates the Ecstasy out of Galveston’s port, and the Miami-based line will be operating its Magic and Triumph cruise ships from the island as well.

Photo: James Nielsen, Chronicle

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Bayport Cruise Terminal still trying to draw ships

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GALVESTON — Several stories high and topped by its red and blue smokestacks and yellow water slide, the Carnival Ecstasy towered over the cruise ship terminal near Galveston's historic Strand. About 2,600 passengers crowded into the terminal, some handing their luggage to porters and double-checking their tickets before embarking on a four-day cruise to Cozumel, Mexico.

"I'm optimistic that we'll end up with a cruise line," Port of Houston Chairman James Edmonds said.

The port is offering to work with cruise lines to develop 40 acres of land near the terminal, hoping that will encourage one to base a ship at the Pasadena property. Restaurants, hotels and other attractions could be built on the land and turn the spot into a destination point, Edmonds said.

"I think that sparked some interest. There is some opportunity there," Edmonds said.

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Other cruise terminals are surrounded by attractions, said Chris Matthews, principal in the transportation practice of A.T. Kearney in Dallas. For example, New Orleans' terminal is near the French Quarter, casinos and the riverfront, he said.

"It would have to be something attractive to compete with other Gulf destinations. I think it's a tough sell," Matthews said. "It would have to be interesting enough to compete with New Orleans or Galveston."

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Galveston also has its scenic challenges. To arrive at its terminal, many passengers pass concrete yards, warehouses and cranes along Harborside Drive.

"It's kind of industrial looking," said Oklahoma resident Robin Gale, who recently took a cruise aboard the Ecstasy and went directly to the terminal upon arriving in Galveston instead of visiting its tourist attractions. "I thought it would be pretty."

Shenequa Miller also drove directly from her suburban Dallas home to the terminal and thought the nearby area was not inviting for tourists. She said some industrial plants wouldn't necessarily deter her from taking a cruise out of Bayport.

"It's all about the ship and the trip," Miller said.

Houston travel agent John Lindlof thinks he could sell Houstonians tickets for a cruise from Bayport.

"For people who live here, I don't think it makes a big difference to them to go out of the Port of Houston," the owner Quality Travel & Cruises said.

For out-of-towners, one advantage for Bayport is that it's closer than Galveston to Houston's airports, he said.

Near airports

The proximity to airports is what port executives thought would attract cruise companies and their passengers to the Port of Houston.

In the late 1990s, port officials studied possible additional revenue sources and decided cruising was one way to generate cash beyond cargo.

In 1997, the port spent about $3 million on a temporary cruise ship terminal it erected quickly at its Barbours Cut Container Terminal to accommodate Norwegian Cruise Line.

Former Port Commissioner Chase Untermeyer was the lone opponent to the Barbours Cut terminal.

"Having a cruise ship facility was not the core business of the Port of Houston," Untermeyer said. "It always seemed to me that Galveston made much more sense as a cruise ship port."

Norwegian Cruise Line operated from Barbours Cut from 1997 until 2001 and again from 2003 until April 2007. Premier Cruise Line operated out of the terminal for a few months in 2000.

But Barbours Cut wasn't ideal for cruise ships, Edmonds said. The Bayport terminal is five miles closer to the Gulf of Mexico and has more parking space for passengers.

"We had planned the whole facility from the ground up," Edmonds said.

The Bayport cruise terminal was part of a $387 million bond proposal Harris County voters approved in 1999. Cruise ships were calling at the port when voters approved the bonds and when construction began on the new terminal. They were gone by the time the terminal was complete, however, mostly because of financial problems at both cruise lines.

Edmonds said Norwegian ships sailed at capacity when they were based in Houston and generated $40 million annually for the local economy.

Betting that cruise business would return, port officials completed the 96,000-square-foot cruise ship terminal in 2008.

Different strategy

Galveston took a different approach.

In 2000, it revamped its Pier 25 warehouse into a cruise terminal after Carnival Cruise Lines agreed to base its Celebration ship out of the island port. Carnival chose Galveston in part because it is closer to the Gulf.

"Docking in Houston requires over an hour of additional sailing time between the dock and pilot station in each direction. This has a direct impact on fuel costs and the itineraries we can offer," said Terry Thornton, Carnival's senior vice president of marketing planning.

Last month, Carnival announced it will begin sailing its 3,690-passenger Carnival Magic from Galveston starting in late 2011. The ship will debut in Europe before sailing to Galveston to offer two weeklong itineraries to the Caribbean.

The Miami-based company also will relocate its 2,758-passenger Carnival Triumph from New Orleans to Galveston for cruises to Mexico and the Caribbean.

To handle the number of passengers who will take the larger Magic, the Port of Galveston will spend $8 million to $10 million on a new gangway and to expand its passenger waiting area.

Royal Caribbean has also offered cruises out of Galveston since 2001. Next year its Mariner of the Seas will replace the Voyager of the Seas that calls there now for seven-day Caribbean cruises. Both vessels have a 3,114-passenger capacity.

Port Director Steven Cernak said 400,000 passengers sailed out of Galveston last year.

"Being at the mouth of the Gulf, we can offer certain advantages to the cruise lines," Cernak said.

The only cruise vessels to call at Bayport were Carnival ships that couldn't call at the damaged Port of Galveston after Hurricane Ike.

Aiming to create jobs

Sometimes Edmonds asks himself why the port got into the cruising business, and his answer is job creation. A weekly vessel departing from Houston would mean vendors could sell flowers, food, drink and other items to the cruise, he said.

"From that standpoint, I think there's a lot of justification for us to be in that kind of business," Edmonds said.

Cruise line executives have toured the Bayport facility and port officials attend trade shows to market the terminal. But officials of Carnival, Princess Cruises, MSC Cruises and Holland America Line said they had no plans to expand to the Houston market.

Even if a cruise line does decide to home-port out of Houston, it could take a year for the cruise to arrive here because companies need time to promote the cruises.